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Directv could start to look at it as those with the older recievers are obsolete customers...typically lower margin customers that probably at some point wont be worth keeping as customers.....SD receivers, lowest tier packages.....

Directv could start to look at it as those with the older recievers are obsolete customers...typically lower margin customers that probably at some point wont be worth keeping as customers.....SD receivers, lowest tier packages.....

Just because someone has SD only with older receivers doesn't make the customers obsolete. What about a customer that has older receivers, SD, and Premium movie channels. I know friends/family in that situation. Would you consider them low margin and potentially not worth keeping? That just seems to me to be a little short sighted.

Mike

µßSince it costs 1.66¢ to produce a penny, my 2¢ worth is really 3.32¢ worth. That 3.32¢ is my own and not the 3.32¢ of DIRECTV, Dish, or anyone else for that matter.

Customers who have old dishes and old receivers are cash cows. Directv isn't investing any money at all in them, and they aren't getting all the freebies that new customers get. They may be more profitable than a lot of HD customers - certainly more profitable than any customer who has been with Directv for less than two years.

You have a few million customers that keep paying you $10-$20 more every month than it costs you to provide their programming, many of whom have been doing so for a decade or more, you want to keep them happy!

One thing is for sure, DirecTV would love to put these customers on the "advanced Receiver" fee bandwagon...

I'm sure they would, but I wonder how long the payback is if in order to induce them to upgrade you give these customers a new dish, a new Genie, and possibly a SWM16 if the Genie pushes them over 8 tuners? Having customers spending an extra $25/month is great, except that it puts a bigger target on Directv's back when someone starts looking for ways to reduce their spending.

People who are still SD only probably mostly fall into one of two camps. One, they don't consider TV that important to worth spending too much money on. Two, they don't have a lot of money to spend on monthly TV fees or on a new HD set. Either way it may be hard for Directv to get them to decide to spend that extra $25/month and keep them for the long term.

I knew what it was but I read it and I stopped reading when i saw this

What are some of the benefits of upgrading?

FASTER PERFORMANCE

Tore it up and threw it out!!!!!!

NOTHING THEY HAVE COMES ANYWHERE NEAR MY RCA!!!!!!! -- They wanna take my box,they will lose me as a long time customer!!!!!!

Well, I upgraded my old Hughes box utilizing the "MPG swap" offer and got a reconditioned D12 (but it works perfect, no charge of any kind, and no new commitment)

Why did I do it well in advance of the MPG going away?

I use this non-DVR receiver in my computer room for one reason-Sonic Tap!! Yup, it's got an old 5" B & W TV connected to it which is rarely turned on and only to set it up. And the new D12 gets a number of additional music channels from the 119 that were NOT added to the MPG when Sonic Tap came along. Plus, if it breaks down I can get it replaced for only $20. If my Hughes broke down it would have been tough luck Charlie-pay full price and enjoy a new commitment!

They won't "take" your RCA box-one day you will just turn it on and it won't work anymore because without the MPG (master program guide) it won't know how to tune channels. Frankly, I'm surprised they still haven't shut off the MPG as I got my D12 and retired my Hughes box months ago.

Customers who have old dishes and old receivers are cash cows. Directv isn't investing any money at all in them, and they aren't getting all the freebies that new customers get. They may be more profitable than a lot of HD customers - certainly more profitable than any customer who has been with Directv for less than two years.

You have a few million customers that keep paying you $10-$20 more every month than it costs you to provide their programming, many of whom have been doing so for a decade or more, you want to keep them happy!

Well, that comment about "aren't getting all the freebies that new customers get" isn't exactly true. I am one of those ancient, obsolete customers with an old dish and SD service. And I was giving DirecTV a FORTUNE every month. I called and asked about my commitment (even though I knew I didn't have one). This immediately triggered a transfer to the retention dept.

If you don't think DTV knows all about old SD customers with equipment that has been paid for over and over you are wrong. They gave me THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS A MONTH off my bill for 12 months and FIFTEEN DOLLARS a month off for months 12-15 just so I wouldn't cancel and jump to another provider. Do the math. That's the same discount NEW CUSTOMERS RECEIVE-maybe even a little more.

Guess what was NEVER brought up on the call? Upgrading to HD which I have no intention of doing at this time.

Ya they suspended mine,I JUST CALLED AND HAD IT RE-ACTIVATED!!!!!! (Then I pulled my card so they cant do this again (Ill only put it in when I watch it))

THIS IS JUST A SCAM TO TRY AND FORCE EVERYONE TO THIER GARBAGE AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE!!

Good luck with that. It would not surprise me if the receiver has a timeout if the card is pulled out for an extended time, and then you would need to call to have the receiver re-authorized. And, if it's a non-supported receiver, they may not be able to reauthorize the receiver.

I get to deal with this on a recurring basis in the computer field. You can tell that we watch closely the operating system and browser user percentages, and if the older version usage percentage drops too low, we have to drop the support because it is too expensive. Many web sites no longer support Internet Explorer 6. Google's policy is to support the current version and one version back of IE, Firefox, and Chrome. The company I work for just dropped support for Mac OSX 10.5, and already dropped support a while ago for OSX 10.5 and older and PowerPC. Yet, I still had to deal with a few heated customers who were not happy about the dropping of PowerPC support. And, the days are numbered for Windows XP support.

"In an effort to increase your cable and satellite bills beyond the point of affordability and to further pad the pockets of our executives..."Check out my list of links.

well the case is this, you want a DVR.. you have to pay EXTRA PER MONTH.. why? you wouldn't pay extra for a VHS... why should you have to pay extra for a DVR.. its a receiver.. period..

Because the DVR can record more hours than a VHS tape (6-8 hours on EP)? And, for DIsh and DirecTV DVRs, they record the exact digital stream that is sent down from the satellite which is of higher resolution than a VHS tape? Or that the DVR is more sophisticated in that I can set it up to record a show based upon program data verses setting a start and stop time? Plus, I can start watching a program while it is still recording? And, I can tell the receiver to record a program from my smart phone?

"In an effort to increase your cable and satellite bills beyond the point of affordability and to further pad the pockets of our executives..."Check out my list of links.

Ya they suspended mine,I JUST CALLED AND HAD IT RE-ACTIVATED!!!!!! (Then I pulled my card so they cant do this again (Ill only put it in when I watch it))

THIS IS JUST A SCAM TO TRY AND FORCE EVERYONE TO THIER GARBAGE AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE!!

It's not a scam, I assure you. There are literally only a handful of customers left on these receivers yet they consume enormous resources in terms of bandwidth capacity, equipment, etc. Customers have been notified for months that this was happening. Channels will start to com down this week and by the 31st they should all be gone.

It's not a scam, I assure you. There are literally only a handful of customers left on these receivers yet they consume enormous resources in terms of bandwidth capacity, equipment, etc. Customers have been notified for months that this was happening. Channels will start to com down this week and by the 31st they should all be gone.

I guess some one will not get to see the ball drop....

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels.
The the troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things different.
They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo.